Prague, Sept 8 (CTK) – Czech Finance Minister Andrej Babis’s (ANO) government rivals try hard to weaken his strength as a politician and business magnate, but all anti-Babis steps they have proposed or pushed through so far have made him even stronger, Karel Steigerwald writes in weekly Reflex out on Thursday.
Most recently, ANO’s government partners, together with the right-wing opposition, have prepared a “Lex Anti-Babis,” or an amendment to the conflict of interest law that is to ban politicians from running business and owning companies, Steigerwald writes.
This is a chance for Babis to accuse his partners and the opposition of going after him, planning to ally themselves with each other against him after the next election and wanting to ban him from owning property as a minister, Steigerwald writes.
The rivals actually strengthen the position of Babis, a parvenu, by making a political victim of him, a step that will probably boost voters’ support for him, Steigerwald writes.
In addition, an “all against Babis” left-right alliance would be even more unstable and turbulent than the present government coalition of the Social Democrats (CSSD), ANO and the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL), Steigerwald writes.
A bill that bans politicians from running business can be easily circumvented, as some examples have shown already, Steigerwald continues, giving former minister Vit Barta and Babis himself as examples of politicians who previously solved the problem by transferring their firms to their relatives.
Furthermore, the bill probably goes counter to the constitution as it deprives politicians of one of the fundamental rights – to run business and own property, Steigerwald writes.
As usual, the bill does not solve the conflict of interest problem but only fogs and confuses it, Steigerwald writes.
Lex Anti-Babis is unnecessary, as it would be enough to observe the valid laws. Czech politicians, nevertheless, prefer to push through a toothless law that is easy to circumvent, he writes.
Several years ago, Babis transferred the ownership of his Stork Nest firm to his relatives to make it eligible for EU subsidies which it could not have reached otherwise. The law enforcement bodies’ ongoing enquiry into the suspected fraud is so sluggish that it amounts to indifference, Steigerwald writes.
Similarly, the state bodies seem unwilling to compare the state subsidies that flowed to Babis’s companies in the past with those they receive now, let alone making Babis bear consequences, Steigerwald writes.
The Czech Republic has a powerful anti-trust office (UOHS) that pokes its nose into the mergers of even tiny entities such as tobacco stands, but it keeps silent when an entrepreneur buys the media that dominate the market, Steigerwald writes, alluding to Babis’s ownership of the Mafra publisher which issues the national dailies Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) and Lidove noviny (LN).
A monopoly on trade in information and opinions is far more dangerous for freedom than a merger of tobacco stands, he writes.
The toothless Lex Anti-Babis offers two advantages to its initiators. It shows to voters how sharp their policy towards Babis is, but at the same time, it enables Babis to laugh at it. Shortly, its goal is to win voters’ support for the rival parties without making Babis angry. Both is necessary to form a coalition, Steigerwald writes.
The rivals want to use Lex Anti-Babis to crush a dangerous “threesome” Babis the minister, the media owner and the entrepreneur. Their efforts will in fact strengthen the threesome, Steigerwald writes.
Babis often criticises other politicians for having gained large properties suspiciously, probably by large-scale thefts, Steigerwald writes and wonders why Babis’s opponents do not use the same “weapon” against him.
Babis’s coalition partners, who are his rivals at the same time, leave the argument that “Babis, too, was stealing” unnoticed. They prefer reacting to his racist lash-outs at Romanies, which, however, can be expected to benefit him [in the eyes of voters]. That is why he made these statements. He knew that the critics cannot but react to them, Steigerwald writes.
The “minister of populism” knows Czech voters well. They appreciate a politician for scolding Romanies, Steigerwald writes with irony.
